Starring: Celeste Dalla Porta, Stefania Sandereli, Gary Oldman, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri
Distributor: Palace Films
Runtime: 136 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2025
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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Parthenope is a woman who bears the name of her city. Is she a siren or a myth?
By this stage in his career, Sorrentino is so well known, especially for The Great Beauty and the two TV series – The Young Pope and The New Pope – that audiences will want to watch each of his new films eagerly. There is always something in his explorations of Italy, its people, its culture, his native Naples and his critique of Naples . . .
But, in the early part of Parthenope, some audiences, including this reviewer, begin to wonder whether they should continue watching. It opens in 1960, moves to the1970s in various dates over the next 10 years or so. There are central characters, but there is also a succession of episodes, somebody remarking that they are random, and one wonders what Sorrentino is really offering, what he wants us to look at, reflect on, and what conclusions to be drawn, if there are any to be drawn.
But, accepting the characters, new characters and episodes all suddenly brought to the fore, and then moved away from, the audience may begin to ruminate as they respond to the always attractive visuals and become somewhat used to the tantalising unexpected episodes.
The film’s title character, Parthenope, a striking and beautiful presence by Dalla Porta, has to age from 18 to 32. She is shown to be an ambitious anthropology student. And this theme pervades the film, especially in her interactions with the role of the detached professor (veteran Orlando).
The drama revolves around their discussions about the definition of anthropology. The final statement is that anthropology is: ‘Seeing’. So, what are we seeing, what have we seen, what does it mean in terms of being human, independence, relationships, love?
For audiences contemplating seeing the film, there are a wonderful views of Naples and surrounds. There are intriguing guest performances in those random episodes, discussions with American novelist, John Cheever (Oldman), an interview with an eccentric screen agent, the social occasion where a Naples-born celebrity actress makes a speech with a savage attack on her city, the annual miracle of the link with location of the blood of the patron San Gennaro and the bizarre behaviour of the local archbishop, the public witness to the consummation of a marriage, the final interview with the son of the professor.
Which is not to underestimate the ordinary themes of human life, growing up, family relationships, self-image, suicide, family grief… And finally, Parthenope in her 60s (Sandrelli) brings the human themes and anthropological exploration to a conclusion.
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